Review of Bubblegum Crisis: Vol. 3

Introduction

Deleted titles can be a mixed blessing. With shops wanting to clear out unwanted stock, there can be some serious bargains to be snagged. Unfortunately that can prove problematic with series. A couple of years ago, I found the first volume of the original Bubblegum Crisis at what I thought then was a bargain price. Yet just recently, I managed to get this volume at a ridiculous 99p. But if you can get hold of the UK release of volume 2, then award yourself 500HP and a couple of level ups. Fortunately with the OVA format, these stories can be enjoyed in isolation. So there`s no reason why a volume 3 can`t rest on your shelf in isolation, although it will forever look forlorn.

When Ridley Scott produced his influential flop Blade Runner, Japanese animation was quick to embrace `cyberpunk`, and one of the early series produced still remains highly popular, despite only running to eight episodes. Bubblegum Crisis from 1987 is similarly set in a dystopian future city, where machines work side by side with humans. So-called Boomers are indistinguishable from people, although on occasion a Boomer will go rogue, wreaking havoc and creating mayhem, requiring the attention of the heroic Knight Sabers. Four young girls have access to form-fitting battle-suits and an array of cutting edge weaponry. They can defeat the toughest of opponents where even the military are outclassed. It all seems familiar now, and can be seen echoed in countless other anime, not least of which is the recent Burst Angel series. But Bubblegum Crisis also had its spin-offs. The series was cancelled prematurely, but the story was concluded in the short-lived Bubblegum Crash in 1991. Meanwhile 1990 saw the release of the AD Police OVA (also reviewed on this site), which serves as a prequel. More recently there has been an AD Police series, as well as a revival of the original story in the 1998 television series, Bubblegum Crisis: 2040. There`s also a Parasite Dolls spin-off that may be worth looking up.

This is an early disc from MVM, evidenced by the NTSC transfer ported directly from the Region 1 version. You get the final two episodes, along with a smattering of extra features.

Ep 7. Double Vision
Houston, Texas 2033 and a high level meeting between GENOM and Gulf & Bradley, regarding some secret Boomer research is disrupted by a large spider legged battle robot, that cuts a swathe of terror through the area. The survivor of that meeting is soon on his way to MegaTokyo to begin work, but Dr McClaren remains a target. Soon the battle robot is on Japanese soil, wreaking havoc. A link between the two is pop star Vision, who after touring in America has come to Japan. When Knight Saber Linna sees her on TV, her memory is jarred. This is more than just corporate warfare, it`s a case of vengeance, and the Knight Sabers will have to decide just whose side they are on.

Ep 8. Scoop Chase
Nene has to baby-sit the Chief`s niece at work, and it isn`t helping her duties as an AD Police officer any. Her secret identity as a Knight Saber is also on the verge of being compromised, for Lisa Vannette wants to break into photojournalism, and she`s desperate to get a front-page scoop. Her goal is to unmask the Knight Sabers, and her suspicions are raised when Nene keeps disappearing. Meanwhile there is disaffection in the ranks of GENOM, where a scientist wants to go into business for himself. He knows that he will have made it when he designs Boomers capable of defeating the Knight Sabers. After a couple of preparatory tests he locates the ideal battleground to bring the girls out and defeat them, AD Police headquarters.

Video

Bubblegum Crisis gets a 4:3 transfer, NTSC as I mentioned earlier. It`s an old style hand drawn animation, with the low resolution and soft image indicative of a videotape source. The image is a little faded and there is the odd spot of print damage, understandable in a show pushing its second decade. Having said that, the animation is very good given the age. The character designs, while stylised are effectively realised, and the world of Bubblegum Crisis is a detailed and richly layered one.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with English and French subtitles. The dialogue is clear and the sound is functional. This is one of those shows in which music plays a great part. Priss is lead singer in her own band, The Replicants (now there`s a Bladerunner reference for you), and as such there are at least a couple of new tracks every episode. In an interesting move, the songs have been translated and re-recorded in English for the dub version, keeping the original tunes. It was successful enough for there to be two soundtrack albums for the series. It`s all very eighties though.

Features

This disc, unlike the first has some extras that you can view through your player. You get the animated menus as usual, and the disc credits are comprehensive once more, offering the Japanese and English cast credits for both episodes, as well as details of the songs therein.

There is a 4-minute slideshow gallery, set to the song Victory.

You`ll also find four animated music videos running to a total of 17 minutes. You get the complete songs of Rock Me!, Mad Machine, Soldier of Roses, and Victory. These are set to animated montages from the episodes.

There is no mention of DVD-ROM material on the case, but looking at the disc contents, there is a gallery file, which I guess contains some more images to peruse. There isn`t any software on this disc, so you`ll probably need the software installed from Disc 1 to view it.

Conclusion

The first volume of Bubblegum Crisis didn`t impress me much, and I came away from it thinking it was dated and simplistic, and best appreciated with the rose tinted spectacles of nostalgia. Great world design and epic scope, inspired by the most cyberpunk of films, but let down in the execution and character development, is what I thought. How wrong I was! I think that the earlier episodes were hamstrung by a shorter run time, as with these final two episodes stretched to 50 minutes apiece, Bubblegum Crisis finds the space to breathe and tell its story, develop the characters and present its dystopian world vision without being constrained by having to rush the narrative. You don`t need those rose tinted specs with volume 3, as this is just great storytelling with robust animation that is a joy to watch.

Double Vision is an excellent thriller, with a grieving sister seeking to lash out at those who had caused her sister`s death. For continuity hounds, Irene was Linna`s friend in Born To Kill in Volume 1, but knowledge of that episode isn`t a prerequisite for enjoying this one. Reika is looking to avenge her sister, is heir to a large and rather shady company, and uses her stage name and career as Vision to hide her tracks. We follow her from Houston to Japan as she pursues her targets. The story is structured so that we get the key events of each day preceded by a flashcard announcing the date. The effect is the same as that of a countdown, and the tension gets ratcheted up with each scene change. It`s also interesting when the Knight Sabers get involved, as they`re hired by GENOM to protect the target, when their instincts and experience would put them on the side of Vision. It`s a question of loyalty and right and wrong, and though we know what the answer will be, it`s a nice note of moral ambiguity.

Scoop Chase looks to be a comedy episode on the face of it, with a would be Lois Lane left in the care of one of the Knight Sabers that she wants to unmask. Nene is pretty much the baby of the team, not as strong or as skilled as the others, but she takes centre stage in this episode, and allows her innate loyalty and intelligence to save the day. The comedy comes from Lisa trying to prove that Nene is one of the Knight Sabers, and trying to trap her into making a slip. But in the meantime a serious threat is brewing, and it`s almost in the background that the new Boomer threat is forming. When that threat does announce itself, the story switches from comedy to action, and we get a Die Hard-esque siege in the AD Police building. Cue perilous escapes through ventilation ducts and down lift shafts. It may be clichéd now, but it`s still entertaining.

Bubblegum Crisis really succeeds in the 50-minute format. The characters are developed well, and the pace seems natural. And while there is a slight degree of continuity, prior knowledge isn`t needed to enjoy these episodes. They work great as stand alone stories, and if you are looking for some old school anime, this is well worth looking up.